FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 2007

Kathleen McPartland
530-898-4260

Ability First Campers Learn from World-Class Paralympic Athletes

Thirty-five youth from all over California, as well as Oregon, Nevada and Washington, are attending the Ability First Sports Camp this week at California State University, Chico. The camp, a one-week residential camp for youth with physical disabilities, emphasizes both sport skill development and socialization.

Laura McLachlin, a professor of therapeutic recreation in the Department of Recreation and Parks Management, has been involved with the camp since 1989, when she came to Chico. “The camp gives these children positive role models and provides them with self-esteem, team-building skills, friendships and an overall sense of fun,” said McLachlin. “It is an experience that influences campers for life; many campers come back to the program as coaches.”

Thirty staff members (70 percent are CSU, Chico alumni) and almost 40 volunteers run the camp. The coaches are paralympic athletes, many of them national record holders. The head coach, Kerry McMurtry, is a world-class water skier.

Students participate in water skiing, track and field events, aquatics and tennis in two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. In addition to the sports activities, there are educational sessions, a skit night, pizza night and a formal dance.

McLachlin was invited to the International Paralympics in Torino, Italy, in March 2006 as a distinguished guest of the International Paralympic Committee. In fall 2005, she received the Exemplary Program Award, on behalf of the California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and the State Council on Adapted Physical Education, for her involvement in the Ability First Sports Camp at CSU, Chico.

The camp continues through Friday, June 22.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2007

Joe Wills
530-898-4143

CSU, Chico Electrical Engineering Students Honored Once Again in National Design Competition

A team of three California State University, Chico engineering students has come in second place in a national design competition hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), one of the world’s largest professional associations in the area of technology.

CSU, Chico students won the competition last year, and it is the fourth time in the eight-year history of the event that CSU, Chico has won an award. Adel Ghandakly, chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said CSU, Chico is the only university in the world to be a repeat prize winner in the competition.

Past winners in the competition include the University of Tennessee, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Florida Atlantic University and North Dakota State University.

The Student Electromagnetic Compatibility Design Competition asks entrants to develop a solution to an electromagnetic interference problem while not affecting the functionality of an electronic circuit. Reducing interference in electrical devices without losing functionality is a critical challenge in electrical engineering.

CSU, Chico graduate students Sourabh Bhalerao and Chris Solis and senior Robert Powelson collaborated on the competition entry and learned they had placed second in the competition earlier this month. All three will be returning as CSU, Chico graduate students this fall.

The award will be presented to the team at an IEEE conference to be held in Honolulu July 8-13. Along with attending the awards banquet, the team will give a presentation of their design report at an exhibit during the Electromagnetic Compatibility Symposium.

The IEEE will cover the team’s travel and lodging expenses as part of the honor for coming in second in the competition.

The IEEE has more than 370,000 members, including more than 80,000 students, in over 160 countries. It was formed in 1963 with the merger of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio Engineers.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 31, 2007

Joe Wills
530-898-4143

Skye The P.E. Guy Begins Cross-Country Trek Promoting Quality Physical Education to Fight Childhood Obesity

California State University, Chico’s intrepid Skye “The P.E. Guy” Dunn embarks on his coast-to-coast adventure next week advocating healthy and high-quality physical education as an answer to the nation’s obesity problem.

The 2007 CSU, Chico alumnus takes a dip into the Pacific Ocean Monday morning, June 4, thus beginning what will likely be a nine-month trek to the Atlantic via the American Discovery Trail. En route, he will visit P.E. classes and promote quality physical education by walking, skating, biking, skiing, canoeing, snowshoeing, kayaking, dancing and dribbling a basketball across America.

Dunn will be meeting at 9 a.m. Monday with approximately 30-50 friends, family, classmates and schoolchildren at Golden Gate Vista Point, located on the Marin County side of the Golden Gate bridge just east of Highway 101. At 10:30 a.m., many of those gathered will walk across the bridge with him as he begins his trip.

As he makes his way 5,000 miles eastward, Dunn will be accompanied by a group of four friends, aka the “Skye-Walkers.” They will drive an RV with supplies and support him in his journey.

To prepare for his trip, Dunn has been running, biking or skating a minimum of 10-15 miles per day this year, and adding additional workouts three days a week. “I am so excited about getting on the road,” Dunn said. “I am really looking forward to meeting people and talking about quality physical education and its role in fighting the obesity epidemic.”

Dunn, 31, recently completed his master’s degree from the Department of Kinesiology (formerly Physical Education and Exercise Science) at CSU, Chico. At the age of 26, he decided to leave a desk job to pursue an
occupation that would incorporate his love for physical activity. He has a BA in physical education teacher education, and is qualified by the state in the subject matter of P.E.

During his graduate program, Dunn decided to devote himself to the promotion of lifetime activities in physical education, and came up with the “Skye The P.E. Guy” moniker and concept of crossing the country to dramatize the urgent need for health and exercise for children.

Dunn believes physical education is a crucial part of the solution to the obesity problem in the U.S. “Quality physical education helps students develop the skills, knowledge and desire they need to be active now and for the rest of their lives,” he said.

In addition, Dunn feels many people need a new appreciation for the importance of well-funded, standards-based physical education. He wants to empower parents, school administrators and elected officials to demand quality physical education classes and decry P.E. classes that are little more than “babysitting” recess periods.

While on his cross-country trek, Dunn will be encouraging people to follow his trip on-line via www.SkyeThePEguy.org and become supporters of quality P.E. through such activities as advocating for physical education to state and federal officials or “adopting” a P.E. class and supplying it with better equipment. Students and teachers will have an opportunity to be “Skye-Walkers” by taking the “Skye-Walkers Challenge” and becoming advocates themselves for high-quality P.E.

For more information on his trip, contact Dunn at (530) 230-8745 or skyethepeguy@hotmail.com. For more information about physical education issues, contact kinesiology professor Cathrine Himberg, founder of CSU, Chico’s Center for Advancement of Standards-based Physical Education Reform (CASPER), at (530) 898-6373, or go to the CASPER Web site at http://www.supportREALteachers.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 30, 2007

Joe Wills
530-898-4143
Curt DeBerg,
Center for Entrepreneurship
530-898-4824

Pennsylvania High School Students Win National Entrepreneurship Tournament: Next Stop, Europe

Students from Northwestern Lehigh High School in New Tripoli, Pa., took top honors in a national business contest in New York City May 25, impressing the judges with their new parfait and lollipop business. But judges were equally impressed with their global outreach projects in Peru and Nicaragua.

Eight high school teams from six states traveled to New York last week to try to become the USA SAGE champion and earn an invitation to represent their country at the SAGE World Cup in Odessa, Ukraine, Aug. 1-4. SAGE – Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship – was founded five years ago by Curt DeBerg, a business professor at California State University, Chico.

High school teams are judged on entrepreneurship, community outreach, civic engagement, environmental responsibility and use of college mentors and a business advisory board. Following a presentation, judges asked questions of the student presenters.

SAGE, staffed by CSU, Chico alumni and students, is now operating in 12 countries. The U.S. competition on Friday was hosted by the accounting firm Deloitte Services LP in Manhattan.

For the 2007 national championship, eight teams from Pennsylvania, Idaho, Nebraska, New York, Ohio and California made oral and written presentations to a panel of judges. The students described their entrepreneurial and social ventures that they started and operated during the past year.

The Pennsylvania team’s parfait business earned more than $1,500 in profits in its first year of operation. Bryan Klass, the team’s faculty adviser, said that he was equally as pleased with their community outreach projects. One project included importing Peruvian bracelets from Cuchuma, Peru, with most of the profits going back to the Peruvian village to build greenhouses. This project was one of many that fell under the “Hungry to Help” general theme of this year’s team.

“SAGE gives students the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge by completing real-world ventures,” Klass said. “All teams were fantastic, and I am proud that Pennsylvania will represent the U.S. in August at the international competition.”

Second place went to last year’s defending national champion from Santa Monica High School in Southern California, while third place went to Benicia High School in Northern California.

The U.S. entrant will compete against teams from Brazil, China, Russia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, South Korea, Ukraine and Philippines.

SAGE is a partner with Youth Venture, an Arlington, Va.-based international youth organization that promotes social entrepreneurship. “Our partnership with Youth Venture allows us to provide start-up capital of up to $1,000 for any U.S. high school SAGE team,” DeBerg said.

Keynote speaker and a judge at the May 25 event was Jim Hamel, vice president of Youth Venture. “The SAGE competition is one way to evaluate the success of the youth-created, youth-led organizations,” he said. “It really was terrific to see in person the quality of the teams that SAGE is bringing forth.” Hamel added that he was delighted to see that the top four SAGE teams in the U.S. have become part of the global Youth Venture network.

The main sponsors of USA SAGE are the Allstate Foundation, NUMMI, GotVMail, the Harold and Louis Price Foundation, Wells Fargo and Deloitte Services LP.

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For more information about Northwestern Lehigh SAGE, please contact Bryan Klass at (610) 298-8661 x2102, or e-mail him at klassb@nwlehighsd.org. For more information about the SAGE program, contact Curtis L. DeBerg at (530) 898-4824 or email him at cdeberg@csuchico.edu.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2007

Joe Wills
530-898-4143

‘Corpse Flower’ Has Second Ghastly Blooming in 10 Years

For the second time in 10 years, California State University, Chico’s beautiful but smelly “corpse flower” is blooming.

Amorphophallus titanum, 56 inches tall from soil to the tip of its bloom, opened yesterday evening, May 28. The bloom may last only a few days, said Tim Devine, who manages the Department of Biological Sciences’ greenhouses.

Devine has moved the large exotic plant outside the greenhouse on the north side of the Physical Science building so that people can view the bloom and, if they care to, sniff its foul odor.

The rare Indonesian plant uses a smell akin to rotting flesh to attract carrion-seeking insects, thereby earning its ghoulish nickname.

The corpse flower plant can grow to more than 9 feet tall. Devine said relatively little is known about how long the plants live. CSU, Chico acquired its amorphophallus titanum 10 years ago.

Only when in bloom does the plant exude its unpleasant smell. The plant’s inflorescence, or flower, has a wide purple shell that surrounds a tall column. Heat is produced along with the odor.

Blooming corpse flowers have attracted plenty of interest at botanical gardens and universities lucky enough to have them. When CSU, Chico’s plant bloomed the first time in 2004, a steady stream of curious onlookers visited the greenhouse by the Physical Science building.

While the bloom lasts, the corpse flower will be outside the Physical Science greenhouse during the day as much as possible for people to see it, Devine said. When it is not out-of-doors, it will be visible just inside the greenhouse door, he said.

CSU, Chico’s biological sciences department has more than 3,000 living plants in its campus greenhouses, and a herbarium of more than 95,000 dried and mounted specimens.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2007

Joe Wills
530-898-4143

Women Engineers Win Two Regional Awards

California State University, Chico’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers won regional awards this month for professional development and retention of members.

The Society of Women Engineers is a service and educational organization with 100 professional chapters and 300 student chapters that promote engineering as a career for women. CSU, Chico’s chapter is in a region with other collegiate chapters in Northern California, Nevada and Hawaii.

Among the activities for which the CSU, Chico chapter was honored was an April 28 all-day event for 80 area Girl Scouts that introduced them to the field of engineering.

This was the third year in the row CSU, Chico’s chapter has won an award for its efforts to develop interest in engineering as a career.

Sue Hubbard, adviser to the chapter and lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said the chapter has also done an excellent job building its membership. She said the group currently has 43 members and has grown from what is considered a small section to a medium section.

“I have been so impressed with these young women,” Hubbard said. “They have hosted conferences and outreach events and done other activities while taking full loads of very difficult classes.”

Chapter President Jennifer Lasell said the members will find out in October if they have won any national awards.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2007

Joe Wills
530-898-4143
Curt DeBerg,
Center for Entrepreneurship
530-898-4824
cdeberg@csuchico.edu

High School Students Compete in National Entrepreneurship Tournament

More than 80 high school students from six states will be traveling to New York next week to try to become the USA SAGE champion and earn an invitation to represent their country at the SAGE World Cup in Odessa, Ukraine.

SAGE—Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship—was founded by California State University, Chico business professor Curt DeBerg and hosts events organized in part by CSU, Chico business students and alumni. “I have an incredible staff of business students who volunteer for SAGE as part of their commitment and dedication to youth entrepreneurship and social responsibility,” DeBerg said. “By serving while they’re learning, this is service-learning at its best.”

High school teams are judged on entrepreneurship, community outreach, civic engagement, environmental responsibility, use of college mentors and use of a business advisory board. Following a presentation, judges ask questions of the student presenters.

The USA SAGE program will conduct its fifth annual national tournament on Friday, May 25. It will be hosted by the accounting firm Deloitte Services LP at Two World Financial Center in New York.

Last year’s national champion is a team from Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, Calif., which went on to take first place honors at the World Cup in Shanghai. The Santa Monica team again placed first in this spring’s California regional tournament, and will defend its national title in New York.

The Santa Monica team’s newest student entrepreneurship project is a venture known as the “Green Machine Salad Cart,” an on-campus eatery that promotes healthier eating among students. As part of their social entrepreneurship activities, the Santa Monica team taught middle school students the importance of social responsibility and ethics.

For the 2007 national championship, teams from California, Idaho, Nebraska, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania will be making oral and written presentations to a panel of judges. The students will describe their entrepreneurial and social ventures that they started and operated during the past year.

National competitions similar to the New York event are taking place this spring in Brazil, China, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Ukraine, Philippines and South Korea. Each country’s winner advances to the SAGE World Cup in Odessa July 31-August 4. DeBerg said he and five CSU, Chico students—Blake Garcia, Stephanie Lira, Lauren Foster, John Sphar and Gennifer Rose—will be traveling to Odessa to help put on the event.

SAGE is a partner with Youth Venture, which is an Arlington, Va.-based international youth organization that promotes social entrepreneurship. “Our partnership with Youth Venture allows us to provide start-up capital of up to $1,000 for any U.S. high school SAGE team,” said DeBerg.

Among the speakers on May 25 will be Jim Hamel, vice president of Youth Venture. “I see SAGE’s mission as a wonderful complement to Youth Venture in that SAGE helps to empower young people by providing them the tools necessary to create civic-minded organizations, clubs or businesses,” Hamel said. “The SAGE competition is one way to evaluate the success of the youth-created, youth-led organizations. I am pleased to see that many of the SAGE teams, which consist of young, socially minded entrepreneurs, have become part of the global Youth Venture network.”

One of this year’s California SAGE judges was Kathy Bihr, executive director of the Tiger Woods Learning Center. “I was so impressed by the caliber of the presentations and the projects implemented by these young people,” Bihr said. “Their creativity, passion and enthusiasm for what they are doing is simply inspiring.” The main sponsors of USA SAGE are the Allstate Foundation, NUMMI, GotVMail, the Harold and Louis Price Foundation, Wells Fargo and Deloitte. Beth Gorley, who represents The Allstate Foundation in California, said, “This program aligns with Allstate’s goal to make economic resources and knowledge accessible to the community. By teaching financial literacy and economics to youth, they will be empowered to make informed decisions regarding their financial security throughout their lives.”

Note: The media are invited to interview members of the defending USA SAGE champion team from Santa Monica on Thursday night, May 24, between 6:30 to 9:00 pm at the Essex World Café, 112 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10006. Media are also invited to interview the winning SAGE team at 7:00 pm on Friday, May 25, in the lobby at the Marriott Financial Center Hotel, 85 West Street, NY 10006. They will also be available Saturday morning. To arrange an interview, contact Rob Best at 909-489-1369.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 17, 2007

Kathleen McPartland
530-898-4260
Carrie Whitcher
College of Agriculture
530-898-5723

Agriculture Student Takes Top Honors at CSU Research Competition

Jessica Cook, a senior in animal science at California State University, Chico, took first place in the Biological and Agricultural Sciences division of the 21st California State University Student Research Competition for research in plant science.

The competition, which took place at CSU, Dominguez Hills May 4­–5, showcases excellent research conducted by undergraduate and graduate students in the full range of academic programs offered by the CSU. Student participants made oral presentations before juries of professional experts from foundations, public agencies, colleges, universities and corporations in California.

Cook’s research paper is titled “Optimum Phosphorus Concentrations Affects New Guinea Impatiens and Coleus in a Top-Watering System.” Her research shows that we can use less phosphorus fertilizer (up to one half of most commercial brands) and continue to have beautiful, healthy garden plants and flowers. This should reduce the contamination of irrigation water by high applications of fertilizer and lower growing costs.

Other researchers have found this with nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus in ground irrigation, but Cook’s work was done with overhead watering, which is used in a majority of garden settings.

“I’m very proud of Jessica’s accomplishments in horticulture science research,” said Carrie Whitcher, Cook’s research advisor. “She is an animal science major, yet she wanted to learn more about plant science to balance her education. I have had many talented young people in my classes in my 15 years of teaching, and Jessica is at the top of my list.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2007

Joe Wills
530-898-4143

Children’s Hospital Recognizes CSU, Chico’s Record Fund-raising

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is featuring California State University, Chico in its new marketing video following the University’s record-breaking fund-raising during 2006-07.

CSU, Chico was first among 215 colleges and universities in the United States by raising a record $187,000 for St. Jude during the current academic year. Since St. Jude began its college-based fund-raising efforts, no school has raised more money or had more participation. CSU, Chico had 1,540 students and other volunteers write 29,500 letters requesting support for St. Jude; both numbers were new records.

St. Jude, the largest childhood cancer research center in the world, treats children from all 50 states as well as foreign countries without regard to ability to pay. In 1998 it initiated campus fund-raising involving student volunteers – highlighted by the Up ’til Dawn letter-writing event – and has gained $16 million from that effort to date.

“We are grateful to the students and staff of Chico State University for their commitment to St. Jude,” said Dave McKee, chief operating officer of St. Jude. “What an accomplishment to contribute more than any Up ’til Dawn program has ever raised in a single year. It speaks highly of your campus to be so far away from St. Jude and yet have such a strong connection to our mission of finding cures and saving children. It is powerful to see how today’s college students are helping St. Jude patients so that they may grow up and go to college, too.”

"Good communities are giving communities, and the Up ’til Dawn program affirms year after year the generosity that defines Chico State,” said CSU, Chico President Paul Zingg. “Supporting St. Jude underscores that our generosity has no bounds or borders. It reaches far beyond our campus and region because it connects us to humanity’s common challenges and enables each participant in this program to make a difference. People count on Chico State for good reason – we deliver and we lead."

Amy Jackson, St. Jude collegiate marketing, said Chico is featured in its new video as the hospital reaches out to new volunteers for the coming year. Several hundred college students will first see the video at an orientation session in July in Memphis, Tenn., where St. Jude is located. “Several studies have pointed to this being the most philanthropic generation to come along in some time,” said Jackson. “We are very grateful for that trend.”

Larry Bassow, program coordinator for Greek Life and adviser to the event, said CSU, Chico students first held an Up ’til Dawn event in 2001 and raised $20,000. Last year, CSU, Chico was surpassed in fund-raising only by Memphis State. Bassow said the student leaders for 2007-08 have already begun meeting and planning next year’s activities.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2007

Kathleen McPartland
530-898-4260
Susan Anderson,
Office of Alumni and Parent Relations
530-898-6472

CSU, Chico Will Hold 117th Commencement

California State University, Chico’s 117th Commencement will feature two commencement ceremonies for the class of 2007, one on Saturday, May 19, and one on Sunday, May 20. In addition, several colleges and programs will hold receptions and special ceremonies.

Approximately 2,800 students are expected to receive bachelor’s degrees on Saturday and Sunday in the University Stadium. The ceremonies will take about two hours each and will be held rain or shine. Tickets are not required for admission.

CSU, Chico President Paul Zingg and Alumni Association President Alicia Barr will speak at both ceremonies. Will Lombardi, a graduating senior in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, will speak on Saturday, and Sara E. Tindula, a graduating senior in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, will speak on Sunday.

Rafael Sanchez, who received a BA in modern languages in 1981 from CSU, Chico, will be awarded an honorary doctorate during the ceremony on Saturday, May 19. Sanchez, president and CEO of American Capital Ventures, has received numerous awards for his community service. He was recently honored as Business Advocate of the Year for the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. He served on the Education Commission and the Sacramento Police Advisory Council under Sacramento mayor Joe Serna, Jr. He served as chair of the California-Mexico Trade Summit and as founding chair of the editorial board for “Latino Journal Magazine,” the nation’s only Latino public policy magazine.

Below is a listing of Commencement celebrations:

Thursday, May 17
The Education Recognition Ceremony will be held in Laxson Auditorium on Thursday, May 17, at 6:30 pm for credential candidates.

Friday, May 18
The nurses pinning ceremony will be held on Friday, May 18 at 4 pm in the Bell Memorial Union.

The commencement ceremony for master’s graduates will be held in Laxson Auditorium at 7 pm. Tickets are necessary for the graduate ceremony. For more information on this ceremony, call Diana Parks, Master’s Commencement coordinator, at 898-6049.

Saturday, May 19
Beginning at 9 am: Ceremony for graduating students in the Colleges of Communication and Education (including Liberal Studies), Humanities and Fine Arts, International and Interdisciplinary Studies (includes Latin American Studies, Asian Studies, Jewish Studies, Special Majors, and Multicultural and Gender Studies) and Natural Sciences.

The Black Commencement Celebration will be held from 1-3 pm in Harlen Adams Theatre (PAC 144).

The Latino Commencement Celebration will be held from 1-3 pm in Laxson Auditorium.

The College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management will have a graduation celebration ceremony in Laxson Auditorium on Saturday, May 19 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. A reception for the graduating seniors and their families will be held right after the ceremony on the Kendall Hall lawn with music by Chico Faculty Jazz Ensemble.

Sunday, May 20
Beginning at 9 am: Ceremony for graduating students in the Colleges of Agriculture, Behavioral and Social Sciences, Business, and Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management.

For more information about Commencement exercises, call Susan Anderson at the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations at 898-6472 or go to the website.